Legendary recordings that live up to their reputation

[umslopogaas]

Solti's 1966 Decca LP recording of Mahler's second, with the LSO. It was the first, proper, full price grown up recording I bought and promptly wrecked it on my parents' Dansette gramophone which was completely unable to track it. I still have a replacement copy on the shelf and it still sounds stunning.

There are some remarkable bargains to be had at present, as the record companies put out their classic recordings one last time at bargain basement prices, before the world moves to downloads and no-one wants to buy CDs any more. I have splashed out on a 72 disc set of Toscanini's complete RCA recordings. To single out just one, Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is wonderful. Mono, admittedly but very vivid. I didnt hear the original - I was four years old when it first came out - but sixty years on it still makes you sit up.

And if that isnt enough to be getting on with, I've also bought the complete remastered studio recordings of Maria Callas: forty items, some of them more than one CD. Callas singing Norma in 1960 still sounds wonderful, the last fifteen minutes of that performance, in which Norma murders her children, sets fire to the temple, summons the Furies and rides off with them to Hell, is enough to have the unprepared cowering behind the sofa.

Both those sets work out at about two quid a disc, which given a full price CD can be twenty five quid, is pretty amazing value.

[silvestrione]

... and Richter's mono DG recording of Schumann's Fantasiestucke.

[Rolmill]

....which given a full price CD can be twenty five quid....

Well, if you must shop in Harrods...

Back on topic:

Mozart Horn Concertos - Brain, Karajan (it's the musicianship as much as the horn playing that makes this so great IMV, with apologies to MrGG )
Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 - Gilels, Ludwig (the first recording I ever heard of what became my favourite piano concerto, and I've never heard it bettered either live or on record)
Schubert String Quintet - Hollywood Quartet+ (close to chamber music perfection)
Sibelius Symphony No.5 - Karajan, BPO
Hildegard of Bingen, A feather on the breath of God - Gothic Voices
Grieg Lyric Pieces - Gilels

[MrGongGong]

Mozart Horn Concertos - Brain, Karajan (it's the musicianship as much as the horn playing that makes this so great IMV, with apologies to MrGG

I think its a stonking recording (I never said anything against it or the soloist)

[umslopogaas]

Harrods!? It was the same local hi-fi store that sourced the two quid a disc reissue sets. The hyper-expensive discs in question were the 4 CD recording of Rossini's William Tell, cond. by Lamberto Gardelli. I did protest at the price - nearly a hundred quid - but they said they were difficult to source and if I wanted them, that's what they'd cost. I did want them, so I paid up.

[Tony Halstead]

I think its a stonking recording (I never said anything against it or the soloist)

Brain is absolutely wonderful!
Pity about the sleep-walking orchestra...
His earlier recordings of Concertos 2 and 4 had more alert and sensitive orchestral contributions IMV.

[Petrushka]

A great recording will always be a great recording. Legendary recordings that live up their reputation for me are:

Wagner's Ring VPO/Solti
Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 LSO/Previn
Elgar Dream of Gerontius Halle/Barbirolli
Bruckner Symphony No 8 VPO/Karajan
Mahler Symphony No 8 Chicago SO/Solti
Britten War Requiem LSO/Britten
Strauss Ein Heldenleben BPO/Karajan (1959)
Allegri Miserere Goodman/KCC/Willcocks
Shostakovich Symphony No 10 BPO/Karajan (1966)
Vaughan Williams Symphony No 3 LSO/Previn
Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4 - 6 Leningrad PO/Mravinsky

[neiltingley]

My list would include (of older recordings):


Solomon/Philharmonia/Ackermann - Mozart Piano Concerto K450

Oh absolutely! One of the finest Mozart recordings ever. It's perfection. There are at least two Michelangeli performances/recordings that come very close. He was an outstanding Mozartian too.

A few that spring to mind:

Michelangeli Rach 4 / Ravel
Silvestri 'In the South'
Beecham Heldenleben (1960 one)
Klemperer Das Lied von der Erde
Kovacevich / Davis Mozart 21
Gould Mozart 24th and Beethoven 4th
Brendel and Mackerras Mozart 22

Many others ...

I much prefer the Josef Suk & Smetana in the Mozart Quintets over Grumiaux. But AG's recording of the Debussy and Faure VCs are absolute classics. AG has such a distinctive sound.

[johnb]

Another that springs to mind is Monteux's recording of Daphnis et Chloe with the LSO.

[Petrushka]

Another that springs to mind is Monteux's recording of Daphnis et Chloe with the LSO.

One that should be added to my list too!

[Stanfordian]

Another that springs to mind is Monteux's recording of Daphnis et Chloe with the LSO.

Hiya JohnB,

Great shout, I agree that Monteux's recording of Daphnis et Chloe is superb. But what wonderful music Ravel writes.

My single nomination for what is probably the finest single CD in my entire collection is Arthur Rubinstein playing Chopin's Ballades & Scherzos recorded 1959 on RCA Red Seal Living Stereo.

[silvestrione]

Hiya JohnB,

My single nomination for what is probably the finest single CD in my entire collection is Arthur Rubinstein playing Chopin's Ballades & Scherzos recorded 1959 on RCA Red Seal Living Stereo.

I might not go quite that far but I agree it's a wonderful, classic disc: especially, for me, 3rd and 4th Ballade, and 2nd Scherzo.

[Stanfordian]

I might not go quite that far but I agree it's a wonderful, classic disc: especially, for me, 3rd and 4th Ballade, and 2nd Scherzo.

Hiya JB,

I am actually being serious. If I could save just a single CD it would be Rubinstein playing Chopin's Ballades & Scherzos recorded 1959 on RCA Red Seal Living Stereo.

However, If I was only allowed one box set that would be extremely difficult. My first thoughts as I am writing are for Beethoven symphonies, Vaughan Williams symphonies, Mozart piano concertos, Brahms symphonies, Beethoven piano trios, Brahms concertos, Haydn piano trios, Verdi operas, Bach Cantatas and so on and then I'd have to choose the performances.

[johnb]

I am actually being serious. If I could save just a single CD it would be Rubinstein playing Chopin's Ballades & Scherzos recorded 1959 on RCA Red Seal Living Stereo.

However, If I was only allowed one box set that would be extremely difficult. My first thoughts as I am writing are for Beethoven symphonies, Vaughan Williams symphonies, Mozart piano concertos, Brahms symphonies, Beethoven piano trios, Brahms concertos, Haydn piano trios, Verdi operas, Bach Cantatas and so on and then I'd have to choose the performances.

That Rubinstein disc is one of the CDs in the "Living Stereo" boxed set that I haven't yet got round to playing. Prompted by your enthusiastic comments, this afternoon would seem a good time to remedy the situation. (The problem with big boxes is that there is rarely enough time to listen to all the discs.)

[mikealdren]

There are many obvious ones but I have been listening to a coupling of the Brahms and Sibelius concertos with Ginette Neveu on an EMI GROC this week that really does fit that bill.
Although not released as a coupling originally they have been coupled many times . I got to know these recordings from an EMI references LP about 25 years ago and I recall being smitten with it and playing it a great deal at the end of my student days but it long since bit the dust and I had not heard either for years . How wonderful they are - Neveu had an extraordinary penetrating impassioned tone but with not the slightest hint of schmaltz or sentimentality .

Prompted by your post, I dug out the Sibelius which I haven't listened to for a while but I've always been (and still am) disappointed by Neveu's intonation in the Sibelius. It's one of those things that I now can't get out of my head. My loss I'm sure and I do like her Brahms.

Following on, I listened to a few other performances. Hilary Hahn's version is growing on me. I've always found it too cool, (lacking in bite/temperament as opposed to chilly Nordic cool!). Taking it in its own terms however, her playing is astonishing.

The first recording I bought, Oistrakh/Ormandy, is still a favourite and I prefer it to the other versions of his (Rozhdestvensky/Ehrling/Fougstedt).